It is well known that rubber-reinforced polymers of monovinylaromatic compounds, such as styrene, alphamethyl styrene and ring substituted styrenes are desirable for a variety of uses. More particularly, rubber reinforced polymers of styrene having included therein discrete particles of a crosslinked rubber, for example, polybutadiene, the discrete particles of rubber being dispersed throughout the styrene polymer matrix, can be used in a variety of applications including refrigerator linings, packaging applications, furniture, household appliances and toys. The conventional term for such rubber reinforced polymers is "High Impact Polystyrene" or "HIPS". The physical characteristics and mechanical properties of HIPS are dependent upon many factors, including the particle size of the cross-linked rubber particles. One of the most desirable characteristics of HIPS material is the ability of such material to resist environmental articles such as food containers. In addition, other such properties which must be maintained for such articles include flexural strength and tensile strength.
The property of stress crack resistance, or environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR), is particularly important in thermoplastic polymers utilized in food containers. The food content of such polymer containers might not normally degrade the type of polymeric material of which the container is made, but when a thermoplastic polymer is thermoformed from extruded sheet material, residual stresses are locked into the molded article. These stresses open the polymer up to attack by substances which it would normally be totally resistant to. Such articles made from styrene polymers modified with rubber to increase impact strength are prone to stress cracking when they come into contact with common agents found in organic food products such as fats and oils. Likewise, such products are also subject to stress cracking when coming into contact with organic blowing agents such as halohydrocarbons, containing fluorine and chlorine. These polymers generally are found in household items such as refrigerator liners, which may crack when the cavities in the refrigerators are filled with a polyurethane foam as a result of the blowing agent utilized in the foam.
In the past, environmental stress cracking has been prevented by complex procedures usually involving multiple layer polymer construction wherein an intermediate protective layer of polymer is placed between the polystyrene layer and the blowing agent or the fatty food materials. One such layer of material utilized to insulate the styrene from these agents is the terpolymer material known as ABS, or acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene. Other attempts to improve the stress crack resistance of high impact monovinylaromatic polymers have been to increase the amount of rubber mixed in the polymer. Unfortunately the higher rubber content decreases the tensile and flexural strengths. Other solutions have involved the use of tightly controlling process conditions to maintain strict control over particle size of the rubber particles cross linked within the polystyrene matrix. One such patent disclosing this technique is that granted to the assignee of the present invention, U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,210, issued Oct. 11, 1988, in which a continuous flow process for producing high impact polystyrene and for providing reliable and reproducible methods for varying particle sizes was disclosed. In that patented process, a pre-inversion reactor was utilized to convert a solution of styrene, polystyrene, rubber (such as polybutadiene) and a peroxide catalyst into a high impact polystyrene material exhibiting high environmental stress crack resistance.
Another attempt to improve stress crack resistance was that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,204 to Mittnacht, et al., dated Mar. 13, 1979 in which a monovinylaromatic compound was modified with rubber to increase the ESCR and wherein the amount of rubber dissolved in the monomer prior to polymerization was chosen so that the content of the soft component (gel phase) in the impact resistance polymer was at least 28% by weight and preferably 38% by weight or more, based on the weight of the impact resistant polymer. The upper limit of the content of soft component was about 50 to 60% by weight and a preferable range of 30 to 40% by weight was found advantageous.
A third method used conventionally to increase ESCR in HIPS is that disclosed in British patent specification 1,362,399 in which a liquid hydrocarbon telomer having an unsaturated carbon chain is added to the HIPS material in amounts ranging from 0.2 up to 5 parts per hundred. Telomers are defined in Websters unabridged dictionary as the products of chemical reaction involving the addition of fragments of one molecule (such as alcohol, acetal or chloroform) to the ends of a polymerizing olefin chain. In the British patent, the specific number average molecular weights in the range of 1000 to 6000. Experiments attempting to utilize low molecular weight polybutadienes to manufacture ESCR-HIPS have been unsuccessful because of cross-linking, indicating that this patented process utilizes butadienes which are compounded or blended with polystyrene rather than being added during the polymerization reaction.
Another attempt to improve the stress crack resistance of HIPS material can be found in British patent No. GB 2,153,370A, wherein a HIPS material was manufactured utilizing a high molecular weight rubber material having a stated molecular mass of at least 300,000, a viscosity greater than or equal to 140 centipoise; the resulting HIPS containing between 7 and 10% by weight of rubber, and the polymerization being carried out in the presence of alphamethyl styrene dimer or a compound chosen from n-dodecylmercaptan, tertiarydodecylmercaptan, diphenyl 1,3 butadiene, or various other compounds or mixtures thereof. Also, this process was carried out in the presence of cyclohexane and ethylbenzene equal to at least 7% by weight of the total ingredients. In addition, additives including monotriglycerides of stearates from polyethylene waxes were also necessary.
On the other hand, additives are used for reasons besides ESCR improvement. U.S. Pat. No. 3,506,740 to Dempsey, et al. teaches the use of low molecular weight polyolefins as internal lubricants for impact polystyrene compositions. Listed examples include polypropylenes and polybutylenes with molecular weights in the range of 800 to 1600 (as measured by vapor pressure osmometry).